Shanghai's Traffic Police App is a Success

The app, which is all in Chinese, lets citizens shoot 30-second-long videos of traffic violations to submit for police review. The videos require location information and a clear image of the plate number involved.

More than 1,700 videos have been submitted since the app launched last month. Among the most frequently documented violations are illegal parking (538 videos) and unlawful lane changing (367 videos). The crowdsourced policing has led to numerous tickets for offenders.

The app was conceived in conjunction with Shanghai’s new road and traffic management law, which encourages police to make use of ‘advanced technologies.’ The law has also seen police increasingly use technology such as drones to bring order to the city’s streets.